ADVANTAGES OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC WORLDWIDE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS.

The Dominican Republic is currently in advantageous position and the legal forefront for the realization of real estate business, both in the commercial and tourist area. We have laws in the real estate area that grant important exemptions for investors of tourism, housing and commercial projects, such as the 158-01 on incentive tourism laws, 28-01 on border development and 171-07 on special incentives for the retired workers and foreign rental source; therefore, the law 108-05 of real estate registry which came into force in may of 2007. Also, we newly acquired law 479-08 on commercial corporations which has endowed us with tools to be able to join the corporate world with modern and agile instruments that respond to global needs of commercial markets. Another aspect in our favor, is the fact that our legal structure does not discriminate between Dominican and foreign investors, as our foreign investment law bestows all foreign investor “national” treatment. In spite of the global crisis, our country is experiencing a great time in the touristic real estate, where a political and economic climate prevails, which is very attractive for the realization of new projects, both commercial and housing.

The current Government is enthralled in the promotion of our territory as brand-country and trusted destination for the investments, which has led to promote a rising stock market and establishing the foundations for a law of mortgage market. This legislation will cover for the first time the legal figure of the trust and its aim is to lay the foundation for the securitization of mortgage portfolios. This in itself will boost the construction, promote new jobs and liquidity to banking resources, and will be source of investment for our growing pension funds. To successfully achieve the implementation of these new legal instruments as well as the laws of incentives before mentioned, it is necessary to encourage the productive sectors by giving them facilities to benefit from these legal benefits and at the same time mitigate risk in cross-border operations.